A little vacation planning help please

[helenabear]

I've asked a little adivce from a few of my friends so now I am coming to you all for a little help.

My dad is turning 60 next year. My brother had a great plan to do a family vacation on my dad's birthday. He wants to do a cruise to Bermuda (it would be in July) and I am not really keen on that idea. So I have been trying to come up with some good ideas for a family vacation (that would be in July). I need to get ideas and tentative budgets to my brother and sister within the next month so we all can decide which three or so ideas to give to my dad to choose from. Here are the stipulations though:

CANNOT be Disney or anything Disney related
No week out in the middle of the woods (ie camping/cabins)
Will be for 7 adults (no kids) a few are more into 'partying' than others.
Preferably one location that wouldn't require a lot of driving to places.
Preferably not a cruise
We are trying to sick to $1000/week per couple
Somewhere nice to be in July

My brother doesn't seem to be too keen on flying. He lives in NJ and the rest of us are in Columbus (OH) so if we are driving, I'd like it to be within a day's drive (probably 10 hours or less).

Any good ideas? I have come up with some, but none are jumping out at us to be a good idea. Thanks so much

 

[JAP]

How about Las Vegas? You could also drive to Hoover Dam for some sight seeing. But that would require flying.

How about some of the beaches/resort areas in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey. I think Snoopy mentioned a few of those places for me last fall. Robeth...something beach looked really nice.

Good luck! It is good to see you Elaine. We still have not gotten together for lunch. PM me if you would like to in the next couple of weeks.

Jen

 

[Jeafl]

What about renting a beach house? We rented a gorgeous 4 bath/4 bedroom house on Ocean Isle Beach, NC for about $1500/week. It was the most relaxing, yet fun vacation for all ages. We split the house with my friend and her family so it was quite reasonable. If you need a little excitement, you can get to Myrtle Beach in less than 45 minutes.

 

[philaround]

Hi Ellaine. It was great to meet you and the others last week.

For July I can't think of anything better then a trip to the Mountains.

You could choose from the White Mountains in New Hamshire, the Catskills in NY, or the Smokies in West Virginia.

All locations have some great inns to choose from and lots of activities to keep you occupied.

I think I saw a thread about a DIS couple that just started an inn in the Smokies so if you go there you could still have a Disney fix.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[crazyme5kids]

Well, having just recently been to Niagara Falls, that would be my vote. There is so much to do up there, I think you would find it perfect for adults. Stay on the Canadian side.

 

[helenabear]

Thanks for the ideas so far. I should clarify, flying isn't out, but a lot fo the places I have found are about $300-350/person and that is just too high for the buget. I wouldn't mind paying some of those prices if the hotels are cheap (I guess I am used to $100-200 flights to my usual places).

I should have also said no Las Vegas or casinos... no one seems to be into any of that at all in my family.

So far the rest are definitely worth looking into. I will have to do some major checking into a few mentioned. I already did start to look at Niagra Falls since it is a days drive for both sides but I wasn't sure what was up there to do.

 

[helenabear]

In my haste to get out and run errands during lunch, I totally forgot to say a few things!

Jen, nice to see you here on the DIS posting again. You were missed when you weren't around (or even while scarse). Work does have me busy these days and so I am not sure, but I don't think I'll be good for lunch for a few weeks. I'll PM you when things lighten up for me

Phil, it was a pleasure to meet you and your wife (along with the others) last week! I hope you enjoyed the remainder of your trip

And really, thank you all again for the suggestions so far! Much appreciated!!!